Mapuches threaten to go underground

A-Infos News Service Bulletin, June 1999

A leader of the Mapuche indigenous movement in southern Chile says a hard-line response by the government to their protests over land disputes will make the Mapuche shift their efforts underground.

This isn't a police problem that is solved by jailing (Mapuche) leaders, said Alihuen Antileo of the Mapuche Community Association. He said such measures as the jailing of indigenous leaders for their role in protests, land occupations and other demonstrations will only harden our position. If they close off institutional paths to us, we will open our own paths to reach our objectives. If its necessary, well go underground.

Protests, by the indigenous group, have increased in recent months over land held by the Government, logging companies and other private interests.

Antileo criticised in particular the arrest of Mapuche Community Association leader Pedro Cayuqueo. Cayuqueo went to Switzerland, where he submitted a report to the United Nations outlining purported violations of Mapuches human rights, and was arrested on his return for allegedly occupying land.

Antileo said a group of Mapuche protesters detained in Traiguen in southern Region IX stemming from an incident there are political prisoners. The inmates have started a hunger strike to press for their release.